Researchers have been working on an artificial-intelligence computer program designed to mimic the way an analyst uses financial news. In simulated trading, the program beat the S&P 500, and when combined with quantitative stock-picking techniques, it saw a return on trades of more than 20%.

European Pressphoto Agency

The New York Stock Exchange

To make stock predictions, the program does what is known as “text mining” — scanning large volumes of content and analyzing the words in it. Computer-aided quantitative funds already are plentiful, but they analyze numerical data rather than text. The new program is different because it attempts to simulate what has traditionally been a human activity.

“Our approach is more like the analyst approach, simulated by a program,” said Hsinchun Chen, director of the University of Arizona’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, in an interview with Digits. “You have an analyst reading papers, looking for clues that others have not observed.”